An Innocent Question
by SMACkedHuddy
Summary: Austin Tanner, the boy Stella rescued when and after her apartment burned down, has stayed in contact with her since then and has sort of become her protégé. However, sometimes he asks inconvenient questions... my first try at writing a story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Okay, so here it is: my first story. I have always been a big fan of Mac and Stella and I REFUSE to lose my faith in them just because (you may not want to read on if you haven't seen 6x17 "Pot Of Gold" yet) Aubrey Hunter showed up. Aubrey's appearance also made me post this. DEFIANCE FTW!

This is not beta-ed, so I would really appreciate it if you could point out mistakes. I REALLY would. I don't care for flamers, but I am a supporter of constructive criticism. Also English is not my native language, so I consider criticism to be a great way to improve my skills.

**An Innocent Question**

"He'll be home by seven, promise Liz" Stella said to the woman who had, in the last months, become a good friend.

"I know that I can trust you, Stella. You two just have fun." Elizabeth Tanner replied with a smile. Since Stella's apartment had burned down and she had gotten her son back, Liz and Stella Bonasera had stayed in contact.

Austin and Stella had built quite a relationship and the boy saw a trusted confidante in her. Their little outings, just like this one, had become a tradition. Stella would take the boy out to the movies, go to the animal shelter with him to walk a dog or the two would visit a café and sit for hours, talking about everything the boy was interested in.

This was one of the days where they would do something special; Stella had planned to show Austin the lab. After he had been rescued from his kidnapper, he had only seen small parts of it and those were clouded by the fog of confusion that had built with going back to his mother. However, Austin and Liz had made great progress and had created a new bond that was stronger than the one they had had before he had been taken.

Stella had not told Austin that he would get to see the lab today, something he had been eager for in the last few weeks because Stella had told him that Adam had, in the line of duty, so to speak, blown up about ten toilets in varying colors because he "wanted to test if the velocity of the shrapnel changes with color".

Of course Adam was in trouble now because he had wasted resources, but secretly every last person at the lab had watched his experiment with great interest and amusement.

"So... what are we gonna do today?" the boy with the freckled nose inquired from the car seat beside Stella's.

"What do you wanna do?"

"Can we go see the lab today?" he hesitantly asked while glancing sideways at her. A smirk formed on her face and she thought about not telling him, until he turned his head and looked at her pleadingly. "I promise I won't touch anything! I'll be so good you won't even notice me!"

"You know what? I think we should go there and ask Adam if he could show us one of his experiments." Stella answered and grinned at him.

Austin returned the grin, turned to the window and murmured "Awesome!", making Stella laugh quietly.

***

When they reached the lab, Austin immediately started walking straighter and tried to hide how excited he was by putting on a stern face that reminded Stella a little bit of Mac. When they moved into the elevator though, Austin could not hold himself back and nearly jumped to the pad with the buttons for the different floors, pressing the button that said "35" with lightning speed.

When he turned towards her again, he had put the "grown-up face" back on and casually leaned against the wall. Stella crossed her arms and did the same, all the while looking at him with a facial expression that said "No, you are not excited _at all_". Austin blushed and shyly grinned at her, feeling caught.

In the last second before the door closed, a hand moved between the doors, effectively stopping their movement. "Whoa, wait for me Stell!" the voice of Don Flack resounded in the small cabin. The tall man joined them in the elevator and greeted Stella with a grin, then turned towards Austin. "So, you here for business?"

Austin giggled. "No." he simply answered.

"You accompanyin' your girlfriend here then?"

"Stella isn't my girlfriend!" Austin answered, completely outraged.

"She just your friend, then?" Don could not keep the grin out of his voice.

"Yeah, something like that."

******

So how did you like it? Good? Bad? I would appreciate it if you could leave me a review, no matter how long.

Please note that I'm preparing for my graduation at the moment, so I probably won't update regularly; but unless told otherwise you can be sure that I will eventually update at least monthly.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Back again. I won't even start with that whole apologizing business; just know that I haven't graduated yet.

This is, once again, not beta-ed, so please point out any mistakes!

**Disclaimer:** Forgot this one in the first chapter. Who cares?! I guess by now everyone knows that the rights for the characters used in the stories on here are not owned by the stories' authors.

_Dedicated to AIP, because I haven't reviewed her stories for a long time and probably won't be able to for quite some time._

******

When they arrived at the 35th floor, Stella casually stepped towards the doors while Austin stayed in the back of the cabin, nearly vibrating with excitement. Naturally, he still wore his grown-up expression. Flack watched the boy closely, being reminded of the first time his father had taken him to the NYPD station he had worked at back then. He knew how the boy was feeling; back then he had made all the promises a young boy could make just so his father would take him to the station and when they had arrived he had barely trusted himself to be able to leave the cruiser because he had been so afraid to make a mistake and be sent home faster than he could say "NYPD".

The doors finally opened and Flack and Stella left the elevator. The detective excused himself and went to greet his best friend Danny Messer, while Stella moved further along the hallway. After a few seconds she realized that Austin was not beside her anymore, so she turned around and saw the boy still standing at the back wall of the elevator, now looking slightly panicked.

Stella could not help but smile. Austin's behavior was endearing. In the areas he knew he felt comfortable and all but burst with self-confidence, but now he looked intimidated and a little lost. "To see the lab, you'll have to leave the elevator, Austin." she quipped with a grin. Austin blushed and smiled crookedly at her. "I know, I just zoned out for a few seconds." With that, he left the cabin and caught up to Stella.

"Where will we go first?" he asked, now back to his alert self. "How about this: I show you around, then you can stay with Adam and help him with an experiment he told me about earlier while I do some paperwork and then we'll have lunch." she suggested and saw the boy's eyes light up at the mention of the word "experiment". Austin nodded his acquiescence and they started their tour.

When they were done with the lab, the break room and Stella's office, where Austin had been introduced to Danny and Lindsay with whom Stella shared the office, they moved towards the biggest glass-walled office – Mac's. Austin knew him because on a few of their adventures, Mac had tagged along. Also, Mac had helped with the follow-up of Austin's case and sometimes given him the fatherly advice Austin could not get at home.

Austin grinned as he saw Mac look up from the paperwork he was currently doing and received a smile in return. He quickened his pace and soon opened the doors of the chief of the crime lab's office, standing at full height when he had arrived at the desk. "Good morning, Detective Taylor." he proudly chirped and Mac's smile grew. "Good morning, young man. What are you doing here on this fine day?" Although Mac had told Austin a few times already to call him Mac, the boy usually called him "Detective Taylor", thereby showing his pride to know such an important person. After all, to him Mac Taylor was a hero who had saved him from his kidnapper and brought him back to his mother.

Stella entered the office and saw the two having an animated conversation about the medals and pins on Mac's back wall. The Marines fascinated Austin and whenever he met Mac, he begged him to tell a story from his days as a Marine. What he did not know was that oftentimes it was not easy for Mac to talk about that time. He had seen so much death back in Beirut and the constant reminder of how close he himself had come to dying was the scar right above his heart.

If Mac was changing his clothes in the locker room and someone went in, he was always conscious to hide the scar, no matter the cost. He rather walked around naked with both hands on his chest than to let anyone see the scar.

Only once had Stella seen it and even she did not know the whole story behind it. She had looked for a spot to focus on back then when he had sat on a gurney, getting a checkup by a paramedic after having been caught in an explosion together with Flack, so that her eyes would not stray and devour his exposed upper body and had finally found it in the scar. Before she had completely realized what she was looking at and considered what the size of the actual wound must have meant for his physical condition, he had already managed to deflect, draw off her attention and effectively to hide the marred flesh. Up until now, the incident, let alone the story behind the scar, had never been mentioned again.

When Stella's mind returned from its journey to the past, the one and a half men were standing in front of Mac's "trophy wall", as Danny and Flack liked to call it behind closed doors. Stella watched Mac closely while he explained the different meanings of the awards and decorations displayed in little showcases and frames. For a second she thought about what a great father Mac would have made, or maybe even would make some day. He explained every detail with patience and conscientiously answered every question Austin asked – as if he had done that all his life.

Forcing herself out of her stupor, she walked further into the office. "Hey Mac" she greeted with an amused undertone. Hearing her, Mac stopped explaining and turned around in his swivel chair to greet back. "Hey Stella. You have brought a charming guest here." he told her with a charming smile. "Yeah, I can see that you two get on very well." she answered, lifting an elegant eyebrow and smiling. "Stella, can Detective Taylor come with us to lunch later?" a young voice piped up from behind the chair, pulling both adults out of their conversation without words.

"Sure" Stella said and turned a questioning look towards her colleague, best friend and technically her boss. "I'll come with you, I just have to finish up with my paperwork." he agreed and so as to see the experiment as soon as possible Austin reacted with a "Great!" and stormed out of the office into the direction of the lab where Adam would soon conduct a spectacular experiment.

Both adults turned back towards each other after having witnessed the boy speed off and shared a laugh. After they had arranged a time they would meet at for lunch, Stella left Mac's office to see to her paperwork.

******

**A/N:** So... yeah. That was the second chapter.

I'm really sorry for not reviewing much or rather not reviewing anything at the moment, but I really just don't have the time. I basically have to work my ass off for school at the moment and writing this story is some kind of relaxation for me.

Everything I currently read is either from schoolbooks or one of the stories from here on my iPod on my way to school (I go by bus) or at the breaks. Needless to say my school does not provide a wireless internet connection. By the time I get home I have a ton of homework and a pile of stuff I have to work through for my exams starting next week and ending in May. So, no reviews from me guys :( Not to worry though, I'll make it up to you when I have finished the exams.

ANYWAYS, back to the story: I have a question for you: do you want to "see" the experiment Austin and Adam make together or do you want to jump directly to lunch? I would love it if you could tell me in a review.

Until the next chapter, have a great time,

Katha


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **So much for updating once a month... After the exams I got hit with a bad case of typewriter's cramp (TSV is the abbreviation I think...?) and couldn't use my hand for writing.

Actually, if my doctor knew I am using my right hand for writing right now he would probably kill me.

**Disclaimer:** Look for it in chapter two... with a little luck, you will find this oh-so-impotant and oh-so-informative... thing... there.

Austin sprinted along the corridors of the lab in search of Adam Ross. The boy had not been at the lab very often, but he managed to find his way. After a few seconds of running, he spotted Adam in one of the smaller lab compartments. Even if most of the lab had at least flame retardant equipment, this little room was absolutely non-flammable and was used whenever any experiments that had to do with heat had to be conducted.

Austin rang the bell on the safety door but got no reaction at first. Only when he insistently pressed his thumb on the bell for a few seconds, the lab technician swiftly turned his head. Austin frowned; Adam had smudges of soot all over his face and was standing in front of a pile of... money?

The technician walked towards the door and pressed the button that would authorize Austin to enter the lab – one of many safety measures so that any fire that might be intentionally started in the small lab could not transmit to the main lab. "Uh... Hi Austin. What are you doing here?" the technician asked as if he had just come out of a stupor. "Hello Adam. I'm here for the experiment...?" Adam's face changed into a mask of confusion. "Experiment?" "Yeah. Stella told me to come here so I could watch one of your experiments." "OH! That one! Yeah, come in!"

Adam ushered the boy towards the rack of lab coats and looked for the smallest one he could find. He gave Austin safety goggles and fire-resistant mittens so that the boy could help. Then he began explaining;

"Okay. So we have this case. A bank was robbed of practically all the money they had in the safe. No one was hurt, but the thieves used a pretty cool trick to get the money. They started a fire in the safe." Austin tilted his head to the side "I thought money was fire-retardant?" The lab technician agreed "It is. That's the strange thing about it. The bank people who came into the vault immediately closed the door when they saw that the money was burning and shut off the ventilation system so that the fire would lose the oxygen it needed to burn. Unfortunately, the guy that was supposed to turn off the ventilation turned off all the systems at once because he is new at the bank and didn't know how to turn off only one of the systems in the vault. So the lights went off and the security cameras in the vault couldn't film anymore. And that's another strange thing; if the money burned so badly, why was the fire out again when the lights turned off? The vault doesn't have a sprinkler system."

By that time, Austin was totally focused on Adam's tale of the curious crime. "So, that got me thinking" Adam continued. "How can you burn money without burning it? Because when we opened the vault, there was nothing in there. No dust, no singed bills, nothing. And I found an explanation for it."

Adam turned back towards the table he had been working on when his young guest had rung the bell and Austin also turned his attention to the table that was apparently made of solid stone.

On the table there were several dollar bills, a bowl filled with a transparent liquid and three beakers filled with similar looking dry chemicals – all were white and grainy, but their beakers had different tags. One said "Sodium Chloride", the next said "Barium Chloride" and the last label said "Strontium Chloride".

Adam took the first beaker and dumped a tablespoon of the powder into the liquid. Then he took a pair of crucible tongs from the wall that held the tools for experiments and picked up a bill with them. He put the bill into the fluid. "What are you doing?" Austin asked, confused by Adam's actions. Adam smiled. "What does it look like? I'm soaking the money with the chemical."

After a few seconds, Adam pulled the drenched bill out of the fluid. He asked Austin to get a Bunsen burner from the tool wall. He started the burner and gave it to Austin. "Now be careful, I think this could be it. Light it. Come on, put the bill on fire! Burn the money!" he told Austin excitedly.

Carefully the boy moved the burner next to the money, which immediately caught fire. "YES!" Adam hollered. "It's yellow! Finally!" Slowly, the flame shrank. "See? This is how it worked!"

Austin still looked confused. "I don't get it. You mix water with salt and then the money burns?" He glanced at Adam, questioning his sanity. "Ah... no. This isn't simply water. I mixed it with Ethanol. Not the money burned, but the alcohol."

Austin wasn't convinced. "Okay, so I get that. But why did you scream 'It's yellow'? Isn't a flame usually?" Adam shook his head no. "I tried it with Barium – the flame was green. I tried it with Strontium – the flame was red."

The boys tidied up the lab and Austin went back to Stella's office.

He swung open the door and promptly started telling Stella about the experiment. "...and then Adam washed the bill and nothing had happened to it! Man, I want to come here every day!" he finished excitedly.

Stella laughed. She was glad that Austin only knew the fun side of the job. She packed up her things and turned off the computer to go to lunch with her favorite men – Austin and Mac.

**A/N:** No kidding, the experiment works.

I'm not so sure about this chapter. I think I lost my Mojo...

That's also the reason why lunch will be next chapter. Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing!

Lots of Love,

Katha


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